Social networks are widely used to share information among friends. Increasingly, friends share indications that they “like” particular content, such as web pages, songs, etc.
The present disclosure concerns, in some respects, extending concepts of social networks and “liking” to the realm of physical objects (such as may be encountered in retail stores), through the use of smartphone cameras.
In one particular embodiment, shopper Alice comes across a favorite cookie mix in the supermarket. Her friends raved about the cookies at a recent neighborhood get-together, and she wants to share the secret. With her smartphone, Alice takes a picture of the packaged mix, and an associated smartphone app gives her the option of “Liking” the product on Facebook.
When she selects this option, the image is analyzed to derive identification data (e.g., by extracting an image fingerprint, or by decoding an invisible digital watermark). This identification data is passed to a database, which determines the item to which it corresponds. An entry is then made to Alice's Facebook profile, indicating she “Likes” the product (in this case, a package of Bob's Red Mill brand gluten free shortbread cookie mix). A corresponding notation instantly appears in her friends' Facebook news feeds.
In some arrangements, the app gives the shopper the opportunity to explore, review, and “like,” related items, such as other products of the same brand. For example, by information presented by the app, Alice may discover that Bob's Red Mill also offers a gluten-free vanilla cake mix. Pleased with her experience with the cookie mix, she decides to try a package of the cake mix for her son's upcoming birthday. Finding it out of stock on the grocery shelf, Alice selects another option on her smartphone app—electing to purchase the item from Amazon (shipping is free with her Amazon Prime account).
In another aspect, the present technology is used to share images via social networks, such as on Pinterest.
Pinterest is an online service that enables people to share images they find on the web. Users compile collections of images (pinboards, or galleries), which are typically grouped by a common subject (e.g., vases) or theme (e.g., red items).
In an exemplary scenario, Ted has a fascination for rakes. He has a Pinterest pinboard where he collects images depicting the variety of rakes he's found on the web. While on an errand looking for something else, he happens across a “carpet rake” at the mall department store. Intrigued, he uses his smartphone to snap an image of the barcode label found on the product's handle.
A smartphone app gives him an option of posting to his Pinterest account. While the barcode, per se, has no appeal, the app automatically decodes the barcode and presents a gallery of product photos associated with the barcode identifier. Moreover, the app presents images of other carpet rakes. (Who knew there could be such diversity in carpet rakes?) Ted selects several of the product photos with a few taps, and a moment later they are all posted to his rakes pinboard on Pinterest.
In a related embodiment, Pat is reading House Beautiful magazine, and sees a picture of a lamp she likes. With her smartphone she captures an image from the magazine page. An app on the smartphone recognizes the image as having been published in the April, 2012, issue (e.g., by a steganographic watermark in the image), and takes Pat to the House Beautiful pinboard for April on Pinterest. There she can click a single button to re-pin the lamp image to one of her own pinboards. While there, she scans the other House Beautiful photos on Pinterest, and picks a few others for re-pinning too.
The present technology spans a great number of other features and implementations; the foregoing is just a small sampling.